NBBL - a Blood Bowl League Report

Back at the end of May I did something radical – I joined a Blood Bowl league! Having participated in the NAF Blood Bowl tournament in early May, I was full of enthusiasm for gaming, and sought out the Nottingham Blood Bowl League (NBBL) via the wonder of Facebook, playing at Bugman’s Bar at GW HQ.

Although the league was already several weeks in, I was allowed to join as a late starter, bringing my Dark Elf team, The Malice Troupers. The league proved to be a particularly bruising encounter for my Dark Elves; joining in part-way meant that my opponents were using more developed teams (although having cash to compensate and buy in Star Players is always nice).

 

The Malice Troupers ready for the season!

Horns and Wheels - Finished Sensei Companion & Brat Car

Sadly due to a scheduling clash, it looks like I am no long participating in the Rogue Trader - 'The Quickening' game in a couple of weeks time at the Oldhammer Bring Out Your Lead weekend at Foundry. But not being able to join in the game, doesn't mean the Sensei I painted a week or so back doesn't need any companions. With my wife out last night, I broke out the paints and selected one of my top 10 miniatures of all time as my Sensei's first companion - Beast Trooper Gaxt.

 

Back in Rogue Trader, Beastmen were simply abhumans which could be used alongside human Imperial Guard, in the same way as Ogryns and Ratlings. Beast Trooper Gaxt was just one of the Imperial Guard range, armed with his autogun. My version of him is painted to match my Sensei, with a primarily dark grey scheme:

 

A subdued colour scheme with flashes of colour on the gaiters and wristband

 

The Confrontation Project - Starting to Look Pretty Big!

Over a year ago I started putting together a Brat gang. I'm not entirely sure why - there was no real reason behind it, other than the appeal of the models.

 In the intervening 12 months, the Brat gang has evolved into a fun (and flamboyant) modelling and painting project. Of course, Brats need somebody to fight, and somewhere to fight. The logical result of this realisation was to start buying up other suitable models and terrain. This morning, another shipment of models destined for a life of fighting Brats arrived. Feeling very pleased with my latest purchase, I laid out all of the WIP and unpainted models. All 65 of them...

 

 

I'm particularly enjoying pulling on less well-known ranges like Paranoia and Judge Dredd. With a bit of tweaking, some of the figures are perfect for a Confrontation setting. Here's a closer look at the WIP pile:

 

My Top 10 Minis Of All Time

Last week over at the Oldhammer Facebook group, Juck Vaughan posed this very succinct question:

"What are your top ten pieces of all time?"

The question generated quite a bit of interest, with plenty of suggestions. I myself waded in with a list of 10 miniatures of my personal favourites. Think about the implications of the question though - is it really possible to select just 10 figures? Imagine that you are being forced by your wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend, partner or significant other to sell your entire collection of figures. You have been granted a small concession and can keep, trade or buy just 10 figures which are representative of your time in the hobby.

Grigor Klegane - Bodyguard for Hire

Last night I should have made some progress painting my Bratmobile in preparation for the Bring Out Your Lead whacky races game at the Foundry in a few weeks time. Instead I painted up this chap:

 

Enter the Sensei - Ekros the Eternal

For me, the best motivation for painting some figures is the probability of joining in a pre-organised event. The Oldhammer Bring Out Your Lead event in August at Foundry is proving to be a fruitful motivator for me - so far I've painted a Brat gang, a Brat biker, converted a Brat car, and am half-way through repurposing a toy crane.

I also got very excited when I read about JB's plans for a Combat Cards based mash-up game; The Rogue Trader Quickening. This game is a bit of a blend of concepts; namely the idea of Sensei from Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness (immortal, secretive children of the Emperor) and the 1980s Highlander films starring Christopher Lambert (immortals who chop each others' heads off because "there can be only one!"). Although The Quickening is planned for Saturday and I can only attend on Sunday, there's an outside chance of a re-run on Sunday...and if that happens I want in! And if I want in, I need to make a Sensei.

So that's what I've done:

Ekros the Eternal; Sensei

 

Biker Brat Painted

The Biker Brat I converted up for my Brat gang has been languishing unpainted for a couple of months. There were a couple of reasons for this: I had other stuff to work on and I was also a little intimidated by the prospect of painting him.

Anyway, last night I put brush to lead and painted him up (inbetween the odd German goal):

 

Gatt Dalvurth, Squat Trader

Monday night is painting night, and this little fellow is the result of last night's session:

Snap! I've Got A Pair!

You might think that the right number for a group of miniatures is a squad of 5. Or perhaps it's a regiment of 30. You're wrong of course, I've recently had the realisation that the correct number is 2. This realisation only came to me through two sub-consciously created events:

Event #1
I purchased this Citadel Pilot from the classic 40k Adventurers range:

"So what's my point?", you might ask. It's a perfectly good purchase of a lovely, classic Citadel figure. No different from buying the Space Eunuch or Worldburner.

Spacelords Adventurers - Painted Trader

Sometimes, very rarely, I buy a model that not only jumps to the top of the painting queue, but also one that demands I paint it immediately.

Over the weekend I received a pack of re-issued Metal Magic Spacelords Adventurers. Doug at EM4 Miniatures has recently been reviving some of the long out of production codes as a little sideline - you can check out what's been re-issued to date over at the Lead Adventure forums. (Note, EM4 carries others in the range in their metal unpainted miniatures line)

I picked up the 3701 Adventurers set for the princely sum of £6.00 (to go with the 3720 Starship Crew I bought the other week).

Spacelords 3701 Adventurers